Cyclone Side: Imperium Type: Air Movement Type: Flying Ground Weapon: Cyclone Cannon Anti-Air Weapon: Cyclone Cannon Range: 6 Damage: 24 Hit Points: 150 Sight Range: 9 Movement Speed: Extremely Fast Cost: 1500 Requirements: Rearming Deck Built At: Assembly Plant

The primary air force of the Imperium, the Cyclone darts in and out and splashes enemies with its neutron weapon.

Ruling the Skies

This is a relatively all-around useful unit. It can shoot ground and air targets, deals decent damage to each, and the fact that it is flying puts it out of danger of attack from most opponents. Cyclones are thus quite powerful and a good addition to almost any army. They do have some issues which make them fairly micromanagement-heavy, however.

First of all, Cyclones require ammunition. This is represented by the blue bar underneath the unit display when you have it selected. When a Cyclone runs out of ammunition, it must return to the Rearming Deck to recharge. When it is done recharging, it will not return to its previous location, but will instead go to the exit point of the Rearming Deck. This means your Cyclone forces can quickly become separated, with some of them attacking the enemy or defending a post, and the rest piling up on the exit point. Keep checking the location of your exit point frequently to retrieve any Cyclones that are gathered there.

The other point is that Cyclones will not acquire targets automatically unless their Independence is set to HIGH. This is done on purpose to help prevent them from using all of their ammunition on random foes. Be sure to set their Independence appropriately according to how you wish them to behave.

The Cyclone has the same range as a Skirmish Tank, so it slightly out-ranges the low-end defensive towers such as the Laser Turret. Its range in regards to the Heavy Rail Platform and Neutron Accelerator doesn’t matter as much since those structures cannot shoot air units anyway. Be careful of Air Defense Sites, however.